WALES – Saturday’s blazing temperatures and close game only added to the excitement on Dirigo’s sideline, after the Cougars squeezed out a 14-13 win over Oak Hill in Wales.

Dirigo (1-1) quarterback Hudson Lufkin led the charge, completing seven of 15 passes for 151 yards with one touchdown pass and one interception.

“(The win) feels great, we were ready coming into this, we’ve been working hard all week, we knew what we had to do when we got in here; and we did it,” Lufkin said. “We executed very well.”

Dirigo head coach Craig Collins said the win was especially sweet as the Cougars moved up from eight-man this season among some doubts on Dirigo’s preparedness.

“Some people thought maybe we shouldn’t be here, I knew we could play it,” Collins said. “We’ve been building this since I got here five years ago, and it’s great. These kids are great. I mean, I give them all the credit — they work hard, and I’m just excited. I’m happy for these guys.”

Oak Hill (1-1) got on the board first when quarterback Braden Dubuc handed the ball off to PJ Smith, who ran 76 yards for a touchdown with 56 seconds remaining in the first half. Kicker Matt Fecteau made the extra point, giving the Raiders a 7-0 lead heading into halftime.

“PJ’s just super electric, probably our most electric guy and we try to get him in space when we can, and when he does, he’s pretty awesome,” Oak Hill coach Chad Stowell said.

With 30 seconds remaining in the third quarter, Dirigo’s Owen Smith found the end zone on a 35-yard touchdown run sweep to cut the deficit to 7-6 after Dirigo missed the extra point.

“Owen Smith, he’s our speedster,” Collins said. “We call him the squirt bug, he does that, that’s what he does. He’ll get some, make someone else and then he’ll break one.”

Smith said the usual slot player got taken out of the game, and Saturday was Smith’s first time playing slot this season.

“They just kind of threw me in and said, ‘take this, do what you can,’ and it was wide open,” Smith said. “My guys blocked for me, and it was there. I had it.”

Dubuc’s numbers were nearly identical to Lufkin’s — 8-for-12 completions for 151 yards, one touchdown and one interception.

Dirigo upped the score to 14-7 in the fourth quarter with a 71-yard touchdown pass from Lufkin to Trevor Crosby on a post pattern with 8:37 remaining, followed by Dakota White’s 2-point conversion.

With 6:29 remaining in the game, Oak Hill scored again, this time off a 27-yard run from Kaiden Delano on first-and-10 to make it a 14-13 game following the failed conversion.

Oak Hill coach Chad Stowell called Delano the team’s “key player,” and noted that most of the Raiders’ offense is centered around him. Delano finished with 125 yards and one touchdown on 17 carries.

After Delano’s touchdown run, the Cougars blocked Oak Hill’s field goal attempt, narrowly keeping the lead for Dirigo.

“I really thought we missed some opportunities in first half,” Collins said. “I give (Oak Hill) the credit, because they made sure we didn’t take advantage of it.

“I thought we had some opportunities, and we just didn’t capitalize, but that’s football. I told my halftime make a couple changes up front. I said, ‘execute these we’re going to score,’ and that’s basically what we did. We just executed the changes.”

In Oak Hill’s Caiden Skidgell sacked Dubuc on the final play of the game to seal the win.

“Caden Skidgell hit him,” Smith said. “I mean, as soon as you see him go down, you know, your heart just races, and you’re so excited. It’s a big one.”

Dirigo sophomore Lufkin — in only his second season as a quarterback, ever — also carried the ball 23 times for 93 yards, while Crosby finished with two receptions, 84 yards and one touchdown.

Oak Hill’s Dubuc had four carries for 10 yards, and Nathan Dillman’s added one reception for 31 yards.